Infosys has set up India Trade Connect, a bloc­kc­ha­in-based trade network in India, in partnership with seven lenders, including Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Indus­Ind Bank and RBL Bank. The other partner banks include Kotak Mahindra Ba­nk, South Indian Bank and Yes Bank.

“The network is being us­ed by the banks to run a successful pilot of Finacle Trade Connect, a blockchain technology based solution developed specifically to address the trade finance process requirements of banks,” Infosys said in a statement.

Infosys said the network is designed to digitise trade finance business processes, including validation of ownership, certification of documents and making payme­nts, while working on a distributed, trusted and shared network.

“The network will create new business opportunities for participating banks, whi­le eliminating the inefficiencies in the existing trade pr­o­cesses and enabling everyone involved in a transaction to have a single source of the truth,” Infosys said.

It noted that financing de­cisions (using the system) are more informed since the banks involved in a transaction are aware of the exact po­sition of a bill as well as the exposure of the corpora­te with its respective partner bank. The functi­o­ns include bill collection, le­tters of cre­dit, open account for trade, customer to customer, tra­nsactions for tr­a­de, business to customer tr­a­nsactions for trade, PO fin­a­ncing and invoice financing.

Sanat Rao, chief business officer at Infosys Finacle, said like any innovative te­c­h­nology, the usage of blo­ckchain-based applications will gradually increase from early adopters to others who will join based on proven and tangible benefits.

“We are committed to he­l­ping our clients realise the path breaking benefits of blockchain technology and we look forward to many mo­re collaborations to stre­n­g­then this consortium and building other networks acr­oss the world,” he added.